Pages

Friday, December 30, 2011

Cassandra Carr's Head Games!

Cassandra Carr is here today with her new book, Head Games. Want to know more? Here's the tour link. But I'd say stop by. Cassandra will be giving away one set of signed Romance Trading Cards to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop and winner's choice one $10 GC to Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble to one commenter during the tour. Pretty cool. So let's get started with the interview!

What was your favorite scene to write in Head Games?It involves an apple pie. That’s all I’m saying.

Oh good gravy. (Turning away to pick up my copy and flip through it. Wicked grin.) What was the inspiration behind Head Games?Well, I love hockey and love hockey players. And I love ménage. So what better way to meld two things I love than to write an entire series about various members of a hockey team who are engaged in permanent ménage relationships?I can see where there's merit and a few other things. Grin, again. What is the most interesting thing you’ve done in the name of research?Actually, the most interesting, and at the same time disconcerting, research that I’ve done is on prostheses, for an anthology I’m writing with a few friends. I will freely admit I’ve also done research on all manner of sex toys, BDSM furniture, collars, etc. That was also interesting. ;-)

If you can't research the BDSM toys and furniture, then what's the point of writing it? What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?The most frustrating side is how many other things you have to do besides write. There’s promo, of course, but there’s also editing and proofreading your books before they’re released (which I don’t really consider writing), talking to your editor and agent about what’s coming up, that sort of thing. Basically, just all the little stuff that takes you away from crafting the next story.

The most rewarding is hearing someone say they loved your book. BY FAR. And here’s a note for readers. You know how in the back of the book under the author’s bio it says “she loves to hear from readers”? She does! It makes our day (maybe even our week) to get a gushing e-mail from a reader. Seriously.

Yes, it totally makes my day to hear from readers. Makes me want to write more. Yeah, I'm with you on that! What accent inspires you to do naughty things?*coughBritishcough*

Don't have to cough and hide it front of me. I still have a close encounter memory of a Brit at Disneyland. No, not sharing it here. Maybe later. Name something readers would be surprised to learn about you?I love John Hughes movies from the 1980’s, and my prom, which I went to with a 23-yo bisexual male who was my boyfriend at the time, was like one of his films come true – the star linebacker was dancing with one of the nerdiest guys in the school, both with their shoes off, gettin’ down, while the rest of us circled them and clapped along to the beat. I looked around and said, “WHAT is going on here?”

A good time if you ask me. If you could ask the readers one question what would it be?What annoys you the most when you’re reading a book? If I got about a thousand answers to that question I would be willing to spend hours using my rusty Excel skills to figure out the stats on the answers so I could stop doing anything annoying.

No kidding. What’s your writing process like?I don’t have one. It’s true. I’m not a plotter. I start with a vague idea. Sometimes I know where it’s going, sometimes I don’t. Right now I’m writing book 2 in the Buffalo Intimidators series. I’m at slightly over 30k, which is about 75% through the book, and I don’t know how it’s going to end beyond it being a happy ending. I really have no clue. Other writers want to slap me right about now, I would guess.

Nah. I'm the same way. I had a story about a gay man I had no idea where it was going. Didn't til I wrote it. Who knew? What can readers expect next from you?*takes deep breath* Loose Id just released a BDSM holiday-themed novella of mine titled Caught. Ellora’s Cave will release a bull rider book with BDSM elements sometime in January. I’ll also be helping EC launch their brand-new line EC for Men with my short story, Take Me at the Ballgame.

How cool is that? Looks like my TBR list is growing out of control. What is the best thing about being a writer? The worst?The best thing is that I do something unique. No one else is writing exactly the same books I am. The worst is that it doesn’t make you rich quick.

Well if we got rich quick, then we'd all write what made us rich and that would suck. What is your method of breaking through writer’s block?I keep writing. That’s all you can do. As Nora Roberts said “You can fix anything but a blank page.”I try to make the page blue. It doesn't always work, but it's better than looking at white space. What fuels you as an author to continue to write?I have to. Once you get into this and get a taste of success you have a driving need to write. I think at this point my characters would drive me crazy if I didn’t write. They wouldn’t shut up inside my head!

Well, yeah. They do get demanding. Can you tell us a bit about what book(s) you have coming out next and what you’re working on now? Caught is a BDSM holiday-themed novella with a reunion aspect to it. Callie comes back to her hometown after a three-year hiatus and sees her old Dom, Jack. They renew their BDSM relationship, but can either of them put aside old hurts and new fears long enough to fall in love? (Dec 13, 2011, Loose Id)

Impact is a bull rider story with BDSM elements. Connor Raub is a Dom, but only in secret. Even his best friend and traveling companion Brady doesn’t know. Then Connor meets a woman named Jessica through the tour and her natural submissive tendencies call to him. Will Jessica be able to convince him he can have it all – a career, love, and the lifestyle he craves? (January 2012, Ellora’s Cave)

I also have my short story for EC for Men, Take Me at the Ballgame. As of when I’m filling this out I don’t have a release date for that yet.

Busy, busy, busy. When you get a chance to read, what books do you love to read? I read all the time. Writers NEED to read in order to get out of their own heads. Of course, I read widely within the erotic romance genre, and I could name about thirty authors I adore. I also love both erotic and non-erotic historical romance, particularly Regency. Contemporary non-erotic romance is good for a change of pace.

Yeah, but when you gotta get the fix, you gotta get the fix. What bores you as a reader? Unrealistic scenarios, like when people decide they love each other after about 36 hours together. That’s a divorce waiting to happen. (Sorry to other authors, it’s just my opinion)

Doesn't tend to work in Hollywood, either. What is your favorite feature on a person?Transparency. I am who I appear to be. I don’t stab people in the back, etc and I hate having it done to me.

You get what you get. That's me. What is your favorite time of day? Probably after my daughter goes to bed and I sit down to write. Hey look, that’s now!

Well, then I'll wrap this up shortly. I know how hard it is sometimes to get time to write. What music gets you dancing?Again, I’ve got to go back to the 80’s. Great music.

There is something special about the '80's. Aliens have landed on the planet. What are the three things you would tell them that are great about this planet? The fact you can breathe the air, it’s temperate enough to live on, and food and drink can be found here. I’m a practical girl.

Practical is good. You have been locked in a mall and told you can get anything you want and when they open in the morning you won’t have to pay a single cent. What stores would you hit? Better question how would you haul away all your loot? I’d hit the bookstore, of course. Also NY & Company – I’m a walking ad for that store. Maybe a shoe store, and then round it out with a trip to a store to buy stuff, whether toys or clothes or whatever, for my daughter. I’d call people as I ran from store to store and tell them I’ll get them one thing if they’ll bring their trucks, vans, etc down to the mall to help me take it all home.

Sounds like a plan to me. If you could share one major writing tip, to help other writers in their quest for publication, what would it be? This is a business, and rejection isn’t personal. It’s not an indictment on your writing if an editor rejects you. I got rejected, I would guess about twenty or thirty times before my first book sold. And that was just by editors. I’ve probably been rejected by agents (who I think are tougher to get these days than book contracts) fifty or more times. When I finally got my agent, it wasn’t until I had four books under contract.

No kidding. It takes work and dedication, no doubt. If you could write in any other genre what would it be, and why?I’d love to write historical Regencies. What a fascinating time period! Almost any historical time period has cool aspects to it.

I can read them, but historicals take way too much research and I don't do research well. I always find that one thing that totally is wrong and run with it. Where can we find out more about you and your work? Website: http://www.booksbycassandracarr.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarrTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr

And finally, have you got a sneak peek excerpt from your current work in progress you can share with my readers and me? The hotter the better!Current work in progress…hmm. *mouses through the book* How’s this? Keep in mind this is FIRST DRAFT material…“You wanna start now, honey? Let’s go.” Luc watched as Jake took possession of her mouth. Her arms wound around his neck and leaned into the kiss even more and Luc’s cock hardened further inside his jeans. He’d been half-hard all day thinking about this, and it looked like it was finally gonna happen.Jake broke the kiss and Luc stood up. “Bedroom.”Her eyes glazed over, Eva pointed down the hall. Luc picked her up and started in that direction, the other two guys trailing behind. He found what was obviously her bedroom, since the only other doors led to a bathroom and a home office, and lowered her onto the bed, following her down onto the mattress and lowering his body over hers. Plunging his hands into her hair, he kissed her. As his tongue sank into her mouth, his cock threatened to strangle him, his balls feeling like they were being twisted in a vise. He pulled back and Carter leaned down, turning her head for his kiss. Luc sat to the side of her, and when Carter released her, he said, “Are you sure you’re ready for this, baby?”Eva nodded. “I want this. I want you.”“Then you’ll have us.” He glanced at his linemates. “A word outside?” They went into the hall and Luc turned to them. “How do you wanna do this?”“I say we just go back in there, take off her clothes, take off our clothes, and see what happens,” Carter answered.Luc said, “I agree. But I think our pants shouldn’t come off until the very last minute. I want to know that’s she’s on board with this; that she really wants it.”“Definitely,” Jake responded. “Otherwise, we drive her crazy with pleasure and deny ourselves, even if it kills us.”“Which it likely will,” Luc muttered.They went back into the bedroom and found Eva still on her back on the bed. Carter climbed up and leaned on the headboard, pulling her up to bring her back flush with his chest. Luc and Jake went to each side of her, and Luc pulled her up and over her head.“Oh God, I knew it,” Carter said as her hard nipples poked through the thin white tank top. “I knew you weren’t wearing a bra. You have the most perfect tits, ever, chica.” He pulled Eva’s tank top up just enough to reveal her bare breasts to their hungry gazes, and both he and Jake took advantage, each latching onto a rosy nipple while Carter held her tank up with one hand and used the other to tilt her head for his kiss. Luc nibbled and sucked on the mouthwatering peak of Eva’s breast, still hardly able to believe he was here – they were all here. He’d wanted this for what seemed like forever, though it had only been a few months, and now his wish was about to come true. He broke off contact with her tit and reached for her jeans. She lifted her ass off the bed and he tugged them and her little bikini panties down and off her legs, throwing them in the general direction of the chair in the corner of the room.Hmmm. That chair might be fun later.For now, though, he needed to get inside her like he needed his next breath, but he ruthlessly tamped down on his own desire. It was time to make Eva crazy.

Dear dog I need a glass of something cold, pronto! Want to know more about Head Games? Here's the blurb:Leo Laporte and Scott Schaeffer are teammates on the ice and roommates off it who also share women. They’ve been coming into Kelly Chase’s bistro after games for months, and they know they want her. As the attraction grows, the men realize they want more than a one-night stand - they want forever.

Kelly’s not so sure. Yes, she wants both men. But a permanent ménage relationship? That’s taking giving her heart away to a whole new level, and a chance she’s hesitant to take. Then Leo is injured and Scott’s on the trading block, and she realizes this may be her only shot at true, everlasting love.

There are so many questions swirling around inside Kelly’s head. Can she believe in Leo and Scott’s love? And will her business and her reputation survive once people find out she’s with two men?

ABOUT CASSANDRA CARR:

Cassandra Carr is a multi-published erotic romance author who lives in Western New York with her husband, Inspiration, and her daughter, Too Cute for Words. When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out on Twitter. Her debut novel, Talk to Me, was released by Loose Id on March 22, 2011. Head Games, Buffalo Intimidators book 1, will release on November 2, 2011 from Siren Bookstrand, and Caught will release December 13, 2011 from Loose Id.

For more information about Cassandra: Website: http://www.booksbycassandracarr.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarrTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr.

12 comments:

First off, let me say it's been fun following your book tour this week. It is always nice to get to know authors and their works.

Do the books you read ever influence what you write? Some authors have said they won't read a book in the genre they are currently writing for fear of being influenced by that story. Does that hold true for you too?

Great interview! I also love reading historical regencies, actually was what I first started reading back when I was in high school, I still have boxes and boxes of books I've accumulated over the years (I buy lots at yard sales or 2nd hand stores) I'll get to them one of these days :)

Wow! Both books sound really good! Thank you so much for the great excerpt. I am thinking either of these stories would be great to keep you warm on a cold winter's night.Happy New Year!manning_j2004 at yahoo dto com